Ancient Coin Reference Guide - Coin Community

Ancient Coin Reference Guide

Part One

Compiled by Ron Rutkowsky

When I first began collecting ancient coins I started to put together a guide which

would help me to identify them and to learn more about their history. Over the

years this has developed into several notebooks filled with what I felt would be

useful information. My plan now is to make all this information available to other

collectors of ancient coinage. I cannot claim any credit for this information; it has

all come from many sources including the internet. Throughout this reference I

use the old era terms of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domni, year of our Lord)

rather than the more politically correct BCE (Before the Christian era) and CE

(Christian era).

Rome

With most collections, there must be a starting point. Mine was with Roman

coinage. The history of Rome is a subject that we all learned about in school.

From Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony, to Constantine the Great and the fall of the

empire in the late 5th century AD.

Rome first came into being around the year 753 BC, when it was ruled under

noble families that descended from the Etruscans. During those early days, it was

ruled by kings. Later the Republic ruled by a Senate headed by a Consul whose

term of office was one year replaced the kingdom. The Senate lasted until Julius

Caesar took over as a dictator in 47 BC and was murdered on March 15, 44 BC. I

will skip over the years until 27 BC when Octavian (Augustus) ended the Republic

and the Roman Empire was formed making him the first emperor.

Coinage in Rome first appeared before circa 290 BC using lumps of refined bronze

called Aes Rude. From around 290 BC cast bronze Aes Signatum appeared. Now, a

form of Roman coinage first appeared in the form of Aes Grave. Aes Grave were

produced in seven different dominations. There were large bronze pieces

weighting into several hundred grams. Also about this time gold, silver, and

bronze coinage appeared.

Aes Rude

Aes Signatum

Markings on Early Roman Coinage

1. As --- Indicated by the letter I. The obverse had the head of Janus and the

reverse the prow of a vessel.

2. Semis--- Letter S. The obverse has the head of Jupiter laureate.

3. Quincunx --- Letter V, indicated by five large dots on the coin.

4. Trines --- Head of Minerva. Indicated by four dots on the coin.

5. Quadrans --- Head of Hercules. Indicated by three dots on the coin.

6. Sextans --- Head of Mercury. Indicated by two dots on the coin.

7. Uncia --- Head of Roma of a Spearhead. Indicated by one dot on the coin.

Aes Grave

AS

Semis

Quincunx

Trines

Quadrans

Sextans

Uncia

Roman Moneyers

The office of moneyer was an annual appointment. Three men were responsible

for the casting of gold, silver and bronze coinage. Their title was Tresviri auro aere

flando feriundo and their names appeared on the coins. The two links below will

give a list of these moneyers.



es/rrc/roman_republican_coins/roman_republican_moneyers.aspx





Denarius by: moneyer CN. LENTVL

Crawford 387/1

(author¡¯s collection, not actual size)

The Romans loved to use abbreviations in their legends. Here is a list of the most

common forename abbreviations.

A: Aulus

AEL: Aelius

AUR: Aurelius

D: Decimus

C: Caius or Gaius

CN: Cnaeus

FL: Flavius

L: Lucius

M: Marcus

N: Numerius

P: Publis

Q: Quintus

SER: Sergius

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